The landlords of the Duke of Cornwall in Weymouth have decided to sell their pub after a 'nightmare' court battle with the council over a noise complaint.

The pub on St Edmund Street had various modifications imposed upon its licence in December 2021, after a Dorset Council licensing sub-committee accepted a noise complaint against it. 

Following an appeal, at Poole Magistrates Court the judge ruled in favour of the Duke of Cornwall, however, restrictions on live music licensing were upheld.

The pub has now been put up for sale after landlord Martin Rollings said the court battle had "tainted" his experience of running a pub.

He said: "It was never our plan to sell after two and-a-half years, but the whole experience has tainted it for us.

"It has completely taken the fun out of running a pub for us and the bad memories are outweighing the good ones.

"It has been a lesson learned and we will never run another pub.

"We are going to move away and get new jobs. I am a musician so hopefully I can continue doing that but to be honest I don't mind if I'm stacking shelves."

The court decision led to a reduction in live music hours, which Martin Rollings previously said had lost the business around £150,000.

Despite securing a win in court, Martin describes the ruling as a "half-win" due to some of the measures imposed by Dorset Council's licensing subcommittee remaining in place.

Martin said: "This is not what we wanted and it didn't feel like a win.

"We have spent more time fighting the council than running a pub, that wasn't the dream.

"We are absolutely deflated and I cannot face going through it again. The stress, fatigue, worry and lack of sleep it is not worth it.

"One more noise complaint and we could be back to that, we would be living in constant worry."

Martin expressed his gratitude to locals and customers who had supported them during their time at the pub, as well as showing their support through their long battle with the council.

Martin said: "We are very grateful to the 3,000 who signed the petition and everyone who supported us.

"We have made some very good friends here and we feel sorry for our regulars.

"So many people, locals and tourists say this is the best pub in town."